French Competition Law provides a comprehensive review of the French rules relating to competition: restrictive agreements, commercial negotiation, abuses of a dominant position, procedure and merger control.

French Competition Law

Competitors sometimes join together in a cooperative in order to conduct a commercial policy based on a common trade name. In this structure, they are at liberty to determine which selling methods are appropriate to the trade name's brand. This system, which is fairly close in spirit to a vertical distribution agreement, is not automatically anticompetitive. Members may be selected according to qu …

Conditions for lawfulness

Competitors sometimes join together in a cooperative in order to conduct a commercial policy based on a common trade name. In this structure, they are at liberty to determine which selling methods are appropriate to the trade name's brand. This system, which is fairly close in spirit to a vertical distribution agreement, is not automatically anticompetitive. Members may be selected according to qualitative and objective criteria. Excluding a member through an official decision that is necessarily collective, like a Board of Director's decision, cannot be considered as cartel behavior, given that it does not have the distortion or restriction of competition as its object or effect .

Cooperative members may be bound by an exclusivity clause , as long as they retain a sufficient amount of commercial freedom , and cooperants do not benefit from exorbitant protection against third party competition. As with vertical agreements, any obligation that goes beyond what is necessary to preserve the trade name's image may come under Article L. 420-1 of the Commercial Code. Bans on publicity for take-away sales or on belonging to several networks have not been held to be anticompetitive to the extent that they strengthen the cooperative's image . The penalty clause that provides for an indemnity to be paid against an early exit from a cooperative of distributors operating under the same trade name constitutes a membership fidelity system that does no harm to competition . Under the trade name, cooperants may proceed with a temporary advertising campaign for a single promotional price, as long as the price is a maximum suggested price and there is no direct or indirect pressure to conform to it .

On the other hand, the cooperative's bylaws must not aim to make members abide by a strict territorial division, or do away with all competition between independent operators in this way without reinforcing their commercial vitality , or prevent members from building up their own customer base , or include a disproportionate non-compete clause . Post-agreement non re-affiliation commitments are lawful where the former member retains the possibility of pursuing trade relations with its acquired clientele and thus of exerting a certain level of competitive pressure .

Cass. com., 22 February 2000, LawLex200200002960JBJ.

Competition Council decision No 92-D-38 of 9 June 1992, LawLex200200003314JBJ.

Competition Council decision No 97-D-49 of 24 June 1997, LawLex200200003123JBJ.

CA Paris, 3 June 1993, upholding Competition Council decision No 92-D-38 of 9 June 1992, LawLex200200003314JBJ. 

CA Versailles, 27 March 1997, LawLex200200002378JBJ. 

Competition Council opinion No 99-A-18 of 17 November 1999, LawLex200200002913JBJ. 

Cass. com., 16 May 1995, LawLex200200002781JBJ. Also Competition Council decision No 00-D-14 of 3 May 2000, LawLex200200002527JBJ. Competition Authority decision No 19-D-15 of 8 July 2019, LawLex201900000912JBJ.

Competition Council decision No 96-D-53 of 17 September 1996, LawLex200300000494JBJ; CA Paris, 13 June 1996, LawLex200300000497JBJ. 

Competition Council decision No 00-D-14 of 3 May 2000, LawLex200200002527JBJ.

Competition Authority decision No 11-D-03 of 15 February 2011, LawLex201100000257JBJ.

French Competition Law

305. Conditions for lawfulness

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Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

305. Conditions for lawfulness

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Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

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au contenu exclusif Livv – juristes d’entreprise